The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Not rated, but probably R for language, violence and disturbing images.
Appearances by: Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Stokely Carmichael, Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis, Danny Glover, Talib Kweli, Bobby Seale, Ahmir-Khalib Thompson.
Written and Directed by Göran Olsson.
GRADE: B+
REVIEW:
As the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and early 1970s moves into history, few young people understand what happened during one of the most turbulent eras in American history. At the peak of such times, journalists from around the world focused on some of struggles experienced by ordinary and extraordinary people who lived and survived in American inner cities. The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 is one such view, as seen and shot on film by Swedish TV journalists.
The film is a compilation of that footage and includes interviews with "Black Power" advocates of the day, including Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis and others. Some off-camera contemporary interviews are also included, including Erykah Badyu and Harry Belfonte along with writers and poets of today. Dr. Martin Luther King and other famous actors in the civil rights movement also make appearances.
The film is chronology of events that sparked the "Black Power" movement and the consequent Black Panther Party. Interviews with Stokely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver and especially Angela Davis provide some of the more interesting points of view, as these actors within the movement share their experience with police brutality, racial discrimination and their solutions to combat such troubles. The film also shows how the emergence of the "Black Power" followers split from Dr. King's non-violent paradigm.
The film does a great job of exposing some of the moods of the day from a perspective that most people born since are not familiar with. The contemporary interviews on the film, especially the follow-up interview with Angela Davis, also demonstrate a modern perspective on what the idea of "Black Power" means today. The raw film footage adds the raw setting of The Black Power Mixtape, which is an imperfect film about a much less-than-perfect time.
I found the Swedish perspective in The Black Power Mixtape to be little on the condescending side, as if the Europeans saw the uniquely American struggle through elitist eyes. It would seem that a country that is 85 percent Caucasian lacks perspective on racial issues. At one point in the film, director Göran Olsson examines an article from TV Guide that blames the Swedish media of and anti-American bias in its civil rights coverage. I thought this part of the film distracted from the more powerful views of the people behind the "Black Power" movement and the rare film footage of the day.
It would be beneficial for students of history to see The Black Power Mixtape, even if some of the more radical political views expressed in the film might make them uncomfortable. While most would agree that it's better to not be inundated with radical speeches and scenes of rioting on the evening news, it is perhaps important to look back and understand how we got here.
